"History is made by those who break the rules." That is the tag line offered for the real life military drama Men of Honor.
It looks like those people who made the film should have followed that advice themselves. While Men doesn't offer anything that we haven't already seen it is still hard to over look the achievements made by Carl Brashear, whose life the movie is based on.
Cuba Gooding Jr., best known for the painfully obnoxious line, "Show me the money," from Jerry Maguire plays Brashear, the first African American to ever enter the Navy's diving school.
There are many battles that Carl Brashear encounters and must overcome. The first is his diving instructor, played by the always wonderful Robert De Niro. De Niro, fresh off of his run as the father-in-law everyone loves to hate, in Meet The Parents shows his range by portraying a racist hick with no tolerance for a negro in the military.
As Billy Sunday, De Niro makes everything twice as hard on his young, black, student, but you soon learn that he can't deny that Brashear is the best diver he has ever seen.
De Niro does the best he can with the character, although it seems Sunday could have been the main focus in a "Movie of the Week" on any network. He has so many character changes and problems of his own that he almost overshadows Brashear for much of the movie.
Between his drinking, his total disregard for authority, and his unforgiving racism, Sunday truly is the main character of the movie. That is unfortunate too, because Cuba Gooding Jr. turns out his best work yet for this piece. (God knows it wasn't for Chill Factor.)
Some of the scenes under water are pretty tense, but early on it becomes obvious that the movie may have been hurt by budget cuts. In one scene you see the mail helicopter approaching the ship to drop off its load and then the camera cuts away to Brashear busy cooking away for the white folk in the kitchen.
Suddenly, you hear a loud boom and see bits of the chopper laying on the surface of the water. Small things like that cheapen the picture and prove America is still not ready to give the big money necessary to produce a movie with a heavy hitting African-American theme.
The movie does feature a slew of talented supporting actors. Charlize Theron (The Cider House Rules) plays Sunday's wife although the script doesn't take the time to develop the real relationship between her and her husband.
Michael Rapaport plays a stuttering trainee. His handicap keeps him on the outside almost as much as Brashear's skin color and the two develop a friendship throughout.
Hal Holbrook plays Mr. Pappy, a crazy old naval officer who can't stand to see a black man graduate from his diving school and goes out of his way to see it doesn't happen.
While the supporting cast adds a little color to the somewhat dry story, the fact that none of these characters are given the screen time they demand is a small tragedy in and of itself.
One character who does grab our attention and makes it out of the sludge this movie becomes, is Jo, played by Aunjanue Ellis. Jo, is Brashear's love interest and manages to steal your heart away as well when she is willing to teach Carl enough to excel in his studies.
Most people will be surprised by this movie. If you don't know the story you will soon realize stuff like this is what we should be taught in our history courses. What a better way to learn about our nation and the troubles we had in the past than by seeing it on the big screen.
If for nothing else, go and see this movie to learn something about a true hero, who wasn't afraid to break the rules.
Movie grade C+
(R, 129 minutes)
